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15th July 2017
08:14pm BST

One of either Murnin or the outstanding Gavin McParland occupied the small square at all times. Sometimes both of them did, sometimes one went for a wander around the field but Clarke was free to explore the entirety of the Semple Stadium forward lines and the areas he picked up ball showed that.
In the first period though, the Crossmaglen attacker might've been accused of coming too deep to get his hands on the O'Neill's leather but McGeeney seemed happy to let him roam because he was torturing the life out of poor Alan Campbell and, for the most part, inviting Jimmy Feehan to double up.
He won the ball nine times out of the 12 times it was put in his direction - by contrast, Sweeney and Quinlivan at the other side of the field only picked up possession seven times between them in the first period. McGeeney made sure his trump card wasn't hidden away.
However, whilst Clarke won two frees that were scored and set up, with a sublime move, what should've been a perfectly good goal but for bizarre refereeing, he wasn't terrorising Tipperary yet because he was being forced wide and deep.
That changed. Oh boy did that change.
His movements were more sporadic, less predictable and he was coming onto the ball in the scoring zone on more occasions.
He notched up 1-1 in the second period and a lot of that was down to the use of Andrew Murnin.
How Jamie Clarke won possession in attack: Hand pass - 11 Kick pass - 4 Breaks - 3In total, he won 18 balls in attack - not coming into defence or picking up anything handy. He held his line and did the work for the team. By the end of it, the stats spoke for themselves (stats are purely forward line stats).
How many balls were won in attack: Jamie Clarke - 18 Andrew Murnin - 8 Conor Sweeney - 8 Michael Quinlivan - 6McGeeney stifled the opposition threat - and he let his own bloodhounds loose. In the end, it was the Armagh savage who feasted most. It was a huge performance from Jamie Clarke - but his manager deserves serious credit too.
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